Toy having magnetic and gravity actuated spinning elements



g- 29, 1967 N J. TOMASELLO 7 3,337,984

TOY HAVING MAGNETIC AND GRAVITY ACTUATED SPINNING ELEMENTS Filed June 5, 1965 F /"g.7 Fig.6

INVENTOR JAMES TOMASELLO ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,337,934 TOY HAVING MAGNETIC AND GRAVITY ACTUATED SPINNING ELEMENTS James Tomasello, Lyndhurst, Ohio (4801 Ridgebury Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44124) Filed June 3, 1965, Ser. No. 461,071 6 Claims. (Cl. 46-241) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is concerned with a toy having a wire loop on which are loosely mounted magnetic and gravity actuated spinning elements enclosed within housings which are unconnected to the elements.

This invention relates generally to toys, but has reference more particularly to improvements in the magnetic toy disclosed in my copending application, Ser. No. 368,- 653, filed May 19, 1964, now abandoned.

The toy disclosed in the aforesaid application comprises an endless circular wire hoop or loop of steel or other ferrous metal and a disc-like or washer-like element, made of a permanent magnet type of alloy, and provided with an axial opening or bore through which the wire of the hoop or loop extends or passes.

I have found that in using an element of the foregoing type, that the element which is at all times exposed, is subject to injury or damage, and that the orbital movements of the element are sometimes subject to interruption by inadvertent touching of or brushing against the element.

Another disadvantage of using an exposed element of the type described is that it is impractical to attach to the element embellishing or ornamental members of the type disclosed in FIGS. 8 and 9 of the aforesaid copending application, due to the fact that the metal of the element is extremely hard, and due also to the fact that the adding of excessive weight to the element, through the use of relatively heavy ornamental members, is apt to interfere with the orbital movements of the element.

The present invention has as its primary object, the provision of a toy of the character described in which the element or elements (when a plurality of elements is employed) are enclosed within a housing or casing, which serves to protect the elements against damage or injury during the course of their movement, and which also serves to prevent or avoid interruption of such move ment, since the elements cannot be touched or brushed against.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy of the character described, in which the housing or casing itself constitutes an embellishment, which is of such light weight that its weight does not in any way interfere with the movements of the elements.

A further object of the invention is to provide a toy of the character described, in which other embellishing or ornamental members are utilized, which are connected to or supported by the housing, so that such other embellishing or ornamental members need not be attached directly to or supported directly upon the elements.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a toy embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view, at approximately full scale or size, of the portion of the toy enclosed within the circle C in FIG. 1;

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FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View, taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are views similar to FIG. 4, but with the housing omitted, and showing successive positions of the magnetic element, in the course of its orbital movement, and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 2, but showing the housing, which would normally rest against the magnetic element, as spaced from the element.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the toy will be seen to comprise an endless circular wire hoop or loop 1 of steel or other ferrous metal, which, by way of example, may be approximately 15 inches in diameter, and made of round wire of about /8 inch diameter. For purposes of this invention, the surface of the hoop or loop 1 is preferably roughened or knurled, since this has been found to improve the orbital and vibratory movements of the elements to be presently described.

The toy further comprises a series of disc-like or washerlike elements 2, made of a permanent magnet type of alloy, such as Alnico, and each provided with an axial opening or bore 3, through which the wire of the loop 1 extends.

The element 2, by way of example, may have an external diameter of about 1%, and a thickness of about the diameter of the opening or bore 3 being approximately or about three times the diameter of the Wire of the loop 1.

Each of the elements 2 is enclosed within a housing, generally designated by reference numeral 4.

Each of the housings 4 consists of a pair of cups, each having a bottom 5, a cylindrical side wall 6, and a circular flange 7, which extends radially outwardly from that end of the side wall 6 which is remote from the bottom 5. The elements 2 are loosely enclosed within the housings, and the bottoms 5 of the cups are provided with small axial openings 8 of a diameter slightly in excess of the diameter of the wire of which the loop 1 is formed, so

that the loop 1 can pass freely through these openings.

After the elements 2 are enclosed between each pair of cups, the flanges 7 of each pair of cups may be secured to each other, either adh'esively or in any other desired manner. The cups of which the housings 4 are composed, are preferably made of thin, but fairly rigid, aluminum foil, so that the housings are extremely light in weight, and do not interfere with the orbital movement of the elements 2.

Prior to assembly of each pair of cups with each other to provide the housings, ornamental members 9 are adhesively secured between the flanges 7 of each pair of cups. These members 9 may be stamped or formed from sheets of a thin plastic, so as to not unduly increase the total weight supported by the elements 2 and the housings 4. These ornamental members 9 may be of any desired form or shape, and may, if desired, be in a form which simulates propellers, which tend to increase the rotative action of the elements 2 and housings 4.

After the elements 2, housings 4 and ornamental members 9 have been assembled into units, the units may be strung onto the loop 1 in several ways, as follows:

The units may be strung onto a wire of a length neces- 3 of the elements 2 will occupy the position shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9, in which condition, the element occupies a substantially horizontal position, with the inner wall of the opening 3 of the element 2 magnetically attracted to the surface of the wire of the loop 1.

With the element 2 in such position, and the loop 1 held vertically in one hand, the housing 4 which encloses the element 2, or the member 9 which extends from such housing, is given a slight rotary impetus by the other hand, thereby causing the element 2 to rotate about the wire 1 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5. The magnetic element 2 thus acquires or assumes an orbital movement about the wire 1, as indicated by the successive positions of the element 2 in relation to the wire in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. At the same time, the element 2 will travel down the wire 1, this orbital movement being accompanied by a wobbling or vibratory movement of the element 2, as indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 9.

As the element 2 travels down the wire, the loop 1 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, so that the element 2 will continue to travel downwardly with its unique orbital and vibratory movement as long as the loop 1 is thus rotated in a clockwise direction.

Since the housing 4 and members 9 are supported by the magnetic element 2 within the housing, a circular and vibratory movement is likewise imparted to the housing and members 9 concurrently with the orbital and vibratory movement of the magnetic element 2.

The combined orbital and vibratory movement of the elements 2 and their housings and embellishing members is extremely fascinating, and in addition to such fascination, an element of skill is involved in the use of the toy, in that the user of the toy will attempt to have such movement continued as long as possible. The toy thus lends itself to use for contests of skill and endurance between various participants.

Although the impetus given to the element 2 in FIG. 5 is in a clockwise direction, the impetus may be in the opposite or counter-clockwise direction, with no d-ifierence in the effect, from the viewpoint of orbital movement and vibration.

In most cases, it is unnecessary to give the elements 2 an impetus manually, the movements resulting automatically by the mere act of holding the wire loop 1 in a vertical plane, or by shaking the loop slightly.

FIG. 1 shows three of the magnetic elements and their housings mounted on the wire loop 1, but any number of such elements and their housings may be mounted on the wire loop.

The principle of the toy, as thus described, is believed to be based on a balancing, on the one hand, of the attractional forces between the magnetic elements 2 (plus their associated housings and embellishing members) and the wire or loop 1, against the preservation, on the other hand, of a total weight of the magnetic elements 2 and their associated housings and embellishing members, which is not great enough to cause gravity to quickly overcome these attractional forces, yet is sufiicient to permit the magnets (plus their associated housings and embellishing elements) to move slowly down the wire, due to the slight excess of gravitational forces. If the magnetic or attractional forces were exactly in balance with the gravitational forces, the magnetic elements would not move along the hoop, and the toy would be of little or no value.

The toy fits in well with the modern trend towards toys embodying satellite principles and orbitational movements.

Although it is preferred that the toy embody a loop 1 of circular form, the loop may assume a somewhat elliptical form, or instead of a circular loop, a straight piece of wire, as shown in FIG. 10 of my copending application, Ser. No. 368,653, may be used, in which case, the element 2 may travel down the wire until near the bottom of the wire, after which the wiremay be inverted, and the movement of the elements 2 continued.

It is thus seen that I have provided a toy of the character described in which the magnetic elements are enclosed within a housing or casing, which serves to protect the elements against damage or injury during the course of their movement, and which also serves to prevent or avoid interruption of such movement, since the elements cannot be touched or brushed against.

It is also seen that I have provided a toy of the character described, in which the housing or casing itself enhances the ornamental appearance of the toy, and which serves, as well, to support other embellishing or ornamental members, thereby dispensing with the necessity of fastening such embellishing or ornamental members directly to the magnetic elements.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention, herewith shown and described, are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of parts thereof, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a magnetic toy of the character described, an elongated element of a metal attractable to a magnetic element, a disc-like element of a permanent-magnet type material, through which said elongated element extends, said disc-like element having an opening therethrough, through which said elongated element extends, said opening being of a diameter substantially greater than the thickness of said elongated element, said elongated element being in the form of a closed loop of a diameter greatly in excess of the external diameter of said disclike element, and a housing within which said disc-like element is enclosed, said housing being unattached to said element.

2. A toy, as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing consists of a pair of cup-like members of a diameter substantially greater than the diameter of the disc-like element, said members secured together as a unit and completely enclosing said disc-like element.

3. A toy of the character described, comprising a wire loop of substantial diameter made of ferrous metal, a plurality of disc-like elements strong on said loop, each element made of a permanent-magnet type of material, said elements having an orbital movement about the wire of which the loop is comprised, a light-weight metal housing enclosing each of said elements, said housings being also strung on said wire loop.

4. A toy, as defined in claim 3, wherein each housing consists of a pair of cup-like members, each having a circular bottom, a cylindrical side wall, and a flange extending radially from that end of the side wall remote from said bottom, the flanges of said cup-like members secured together as a unit. Y

5. A toy, as defined in claim 4, including plastic embellishing members extending from said housings.

6. A toy, as defined in claim 3, wherein said housings are unattached to said elements.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,961,796 11/1960 Davis 46-,236 3,066,438 12/1962 Green et a1 4652 3,217,446 1l/1965 Steiert 46242 F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A MAGNETIC TOY OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, AN ELONGATED ELEMENT OF A METAL ATTRACTABLE TO A MAGNETIC ELEMENT, A DISC-LIKE ELEMENT OF A PERMANENT-MAGNET TYPE MATERIAL, THROUGH WHICH SAID ELONGATED ELEMENT EXTENDS, SAID DISC-LIKE ELEMENT HAVING AN OPENING THERETHROUGH, THROUGH WHICH SAID ELONGATED ELEMENT EXTENDS, SAID OPENING BEING OF A DIAMETER SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THE THICKNESS OF SAID ELONGATED ELEMENT, SAID ELONGATED ELEMENT BEING IN THE FORM OF A CLOSED LOOP OF A DIAMETER GREATLY IN EXCESS OF THE EXTERNAL DIAMETER OF SAID DISCLIKE ELEMENT, AND A HOUSING WITHIN WHICH SAID DISC-LIKE ELEMENT IS ENCLOSED, SAID HOUSING BEING UNATTACHED TO SAID ELEMENT. 